ESSA TWP. — During the opening ceremonies for Empower Simcoe’s EarlyON Child and Family Centre in Thornton this morning, Shavani Patel broke down while expressing her gratitude to the people who have become her rock as she navigates the world of parenthood.
New to Canada from India in 2017, Patel has discovered a resource that not only allows her to spend quality creative time with her children but also provides her with the emotional support many new parents need and have a difficult time finding.
She calls the workers in the centre her family.
“When I share my feelings, my son’s feelings, with the family — Miss Carol, Miss Pat — they’re like, 'it’s OK, Shavina, you can do it,'”, she said, wiping the tears away. “For me, their support is amazing.”
The new centre, which opens to the public on Monday, is located in the strip mall at 4171 Innisfil Beach Rd., at the corner of County Road 27. It provides families and caregivers with children from prenatal stages through age six, a variety of free core services designed to enhance their parenting journey.
The Thornton opening brings the total number of main EarlyON sites to three; the other two locations are in Barrie and Bradford.
The service also has four satellite locations — at East Bayfield Community Centre on Livingstone Street East and Inniswood Baptist Church on Yonge Street in Barrie, as well as the Innisfil IdeaLab, Cookstown IdeaLab.
“Any family can visit the centre,” said Michele Kapteyn, support and services manager at Empower Simcoe. “All services are free and we’re open Monday to Friday, every other Saturday morning and one night a week.”
With the capacity for 60 people, the centre will fill up quickly. To ensure a spot, Kapteyn recommends parents register with the centre and book their program requirements online at empowersimcoe.ca.
“Mornings are the busiest,” she said. “If you’re looking for a quiet time, with less traffic, I would suggest you book a time in the afternoon.”
EarlyON Child and Family Centres are part of Empower Simcoe, which is a multi-service agency that offers programs across a broad spectrum, including accommodation options for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, community support, infant development and family services.
According to Kapteyn, the programs are about supporting people and helping them thrive.
“We have the opportunity to influence and assist families when they’re just beginning their journeys,” she said. “And we know, research tells us, you can make the biggest difference in a child’s life, in terms of their development, if you provide resources in the early years and children have access to high quality programs in the early years, they do much better across the span of their lifetimes.
“Better in school and better in life in general, when they get a good start,” Kapteyn added.
A good start is all most parents, and grandparents, hope for with their offspring.
Julia Royal, a native of Newberg, N.Y., moved to Innisfil about three-and-half years ago to help her daughter, who had recently given birth.
She’s been blown away by the experience.
“I don’t know of many places like this in America,” Royal said. “They have some awesome daycare centres, but it’s not like this where the whole community is welcomed in, where the whole community can come and interact with each other.
“It’s absolutely awesome, that’s what really drew me, there’s so much diversity and everyone respects everyone else” she added.
Royal said being a part of the centre has provided her with a stability that would have been difficult to achieve otherwise.
“It’s given us roots in the community,” she said. “My granddaughter has such a stable foundation now. She’s made some awesome friends. It really is an amazing place.”
EarlyON Child and Family Centres are planned, funded and managed locally by the County of Simcoe with funding provided by the federal and provincial governments.
